Told Canada it’s not Govt of India policy: Jaishankar on killing of separatist Nijjar

A day earlier, speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, Jaishankar said  “political convenience” should not be allowed to determine a country’s response to “terrorism, extremism and violence” — remarks construed as a veiled message to Canada and its Prime Minister.

Targeting “rule-makers”, Jaishankar said that “respect for territorial integrity and non-interference in internal affairs cannot be exercises in cherry-picking” – a reference to Trudeau’s statement that any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil was an “unacceptable violation of our sovereignty”.

While Jaishankar’s comments have also been perceived as directed at Pakistan and China, the reference to “rule-makers” points to Canada which is part of the G7 grouping and exercises influence because of its close alliance with the US.

While these were his first remarks on the India-Canada row, he framed it in the context of a global rules-based order. He also underlined that “the days when a few nations set the agenda and expected others to fall in line are over”.

At the CFR interaction, Jaishankar said that one must also understand the context because the “picture is not complete” without the context.

“You also have to appreciate that in the last few years, Canada actually has seen a lot of organised crime relating to the secessionist forces, organised crime, violence, extremism. They are all very, very deeply mixed up,” he said.

He said India has been talking about “specifics and information”.

“We have actually been badgering the Canadians, we have given them a lot of information about organised crime leadership, which operates out of Canada. There are a large number of extradition requests. There are terrorist leaders who have been identified,” he said, adding that one has to understand that there is an “environment out there”.

“That is important in a way to factor in if you have to understand what is going on out there. And our concern is that it has really been very permissive because of political reasons. So, we have a situation where actually our diplomats are threatened, our consulates have been attacked and often comments are made about ‘there’s interference in our politics’. And, a lot of this is often justified as saying, well, that’s how democracies work,” he said.

Asked whether India will cooperate with Canada if specific evidence is provided, Jaishankar said, “If somebody gives me something specific, it doesn’t have to be restricted to Canada, but if there is any incident which is an issue and somebody gives me something specific, as a government I would look at it. Of course, I would look at it.”